Blue Dragon
by SharanMcQuack
Summary: A DucktalesDW crossover. A Dragon is heading towards the Money Bin. Dragons love treasure. Mr. McDuck is worried. Launchpad gathers together the Justice Ducks to fight the thing.


**Blue Dragon**

* * *

By Sharan McQuack, Launchpad's wife.

My apologies to any and all Darkwing Duck fans out there. The major thing I did not like about the Darkwing Duck show was...Darkwing Duck.

This story respectfully dedicated to Ruth Stiles Gannett, author of the "My Father's Dragon" Trilogy. I STILL can't believe NOBODY's made a movie of those.

* * *

Mr. McDuck was worried. A huge blue dragon had been spotted flying towards Duckburg. And it was headed straight for the Money Bin!

"In my storybooks, dragons love treasure, Unca Scrooge." Webby said.

"That's what's got me worried. I'm afraid that big blue beast after my money in my Money Bin." Mr. McDuck replied.

"Mr. McD- I may know some "people" who might be able to help." Launchpad said.

"Eh? Who's that? Even you're not crazy enough to want to go up against a dragon!' (1) Mr. McDuck said.

"I'm talking about the Justice Ducks, Mr. McD." Launchpad explained.

"Who?" Mr. McDuck demanded.

Launchpad realized Mr. McDuck had no idea whom the Justice Ducks are- which is far from unusual.

"I'm going to go get help in fighting that thing, OK? I'll be back as soon as I can." Launchpad said.

Launchpad came home to get to his hangers. I was waiting there for him, with a set of keys in my hand.

"Here. You're going to gather together the Justice Ducks to fight that thing, right? Do it in style." I said, having heard about the approaching dragon on TV.

"These are the keys to the hanger the Thunderquack's in- and the Thunderquack itself." Launchpad said.

"I know. What else are you going to fly DW and company in? Besides, you've been having fun improving the Thunderquack just for the challenge of it. I know you've been itching to see what those improvements can do- this is a perfect opportunity to find out. " I continued.

"You don't mind?" Launchpad asked.

"Just be careful out there, OK?" I said.

"Careful? I don't know the meaning of the word!" Launchpad joked.

"Yes, you do. And if you can't be careful for your own sake, could you at least be careful for MINE?" I asked.

"How's that?" Launchpad asked.

"If you can't be careful for your own sake, can you remember that I love you, and I want you back, whole, undamaged and in one piece and be careful for MINE?" I explained.

Launchpad kissed me.

"I think I can do that. OK if I still take some chances?" Launchpad asked.

"If you didn't take chances, you wouldn't be Launchpad. Just don't get carried away." I said.

And I kissed him again and waved goodbye and prayed. (2)

So Launchpad got into the Thunderquack and zoomed off for Saint Canard. On his way there, he radioed Gizmoduck (3)and told Giz he was gathering the Justice Ducks together.

"Oh, great! I got to put up with that pompous arrogant Darkwing Duck AGAIN?" (4) Giz asked.

"Got any better ideas?" Launchpad asked.  
Giz didn't.

So Launchpad landed the plane in its secret hanger inside DW's headquarters within the Saint Canard Bridge.

"LAUNCHPAD! What are you doing here? Did you bring me something?" Gosaylyn asked.

"Hi, Gos. God, I missed you. I'm afraid all I brought is trouble." Launchpad said.

"So what else ain't new? What is it this time?" said Gos.

"Would you believe- a dragon?" Launchpad asked.

"You mean that thing on TV is for real? I thought it was a publicity stunt for a movie or a new video game!" Gos said.

"Nope. I spotted that thing heading towards Duckberg on my way here. It's real, all right. I need your Dad's help." Launchpad said.

"What's he going to do against a dragon? Threaten to bleed on it?" Gos asked. (5)

"He can lead the Justice Ducks against that thing, that's what he can do. I was never even a member of the Justice Ducks!" (6) Launchpad said.

"DAD almost wasn't a member! He didn't want to have anything to do with them! He tried to fight the Fearsome Five all by himself!" (7)Gos said.

"Well, he ended up leading the Justice Ducks anyway!" Launchpad said.

Soon, Launchpad was explaining the situation to Drake Mallard.

"A dragon? As in flying, breaths fire, huge lizard type dragon?" Drake asked.

"No, it's the furry kind that eats carrots! I'm not crazy, it's a real dragon! And it's headed towards Duckberg! You have to led the Justice Ducks against that thing!" Launchpad said.

"And what will YOU be doing?" DW asked.

"My job! Flying the plane!" Launchpad said.

So DW and Launchpad got in the plane. Gos went to the Muddlefoots, under protest. Launchpad flew the plane to Morgana's house and gratefully waited outside while DW had a word with Morgana. (8)

Morgana came out with DW.

"I'm coming along mostly because a dragon is a magical creature. I don't want it killed if we can avoid doing so. If we don't stop it, "people" will kill it, out of fear." Morgana said.

"Where to now, LP?" Darkwing asked.

"Neptunia has been spotted helping some dolphins that got tangled in a fishing net. We might as well talk to her. She was a charter member of the Justice Ducks...even if she's not too crazy about land dwellers." Launchpad said.

Launchpad flew them to where Neptunia was trying to untangle some dolphins from a tuna net before they drowned. (9)The tuna fisher folk were yelling at her, they did not want to lose their catch.

"You can't bring up the net 'till I get them out! The dolphins are heavy and scared! If I can free them, you can have the fish with my blessings! But you don't even WANT the dolphins!" Neptunia screamed at them.

"Hey, Neptunia! Catch!" yelled Launchpad.

"Launchpad? What?" Neptunia asked.

Then she smiled, for Launchpad had tossed her a jackknife. Neptunia cut thur the net from the top (so the fish couldn't get out)and then helped the mammals- the dolphins, that is- out of the net. Then she helped the fisher folk bring the net onto the boat.

"Stupid humans. I would have freed those dolphins with no damage to their net, if they let me. Not that every ocean dweller would help air-breathers." Neptunia said.

"They probably thought you were trying to free the fish, too." Launchpad said.

"Even surface dwellers have the right to eat. And plenty of fish eat other fish." Neptunia said.

"So, I'm guessing you land dwellers want my help with something. Does this have something to do with that dragon that was flying over head earlier?" Neptunia asked.

"Yes. It's headed towards the Money Bin. Dragons love treasure and Mr. McDuck is afraid it wants to steal his treasure. People could get hurt and we don't want to kill the dragon if we don't have to. Will you help?" Launchpad asked.

"Why not? I must admit to being curious. I've never seen an honest-to-gosh dragon before today. And helping Scrooge McDuck would help relations between land dwellers and undersea folk no end." Neptunia said.

So Neptunia boarded the Thunderquack and Launchpad flew the plane over St. Canard, on his way to Duckburg.

Then, a most unwelcome voice cried out:  
"Mr. Darkwing! Hello, Mr. Darkwing!" Stego said.

"Oh, no! it's that prize idiot, Stego! I don't CARE if he was a member of the Justice Ducks, Launchpad! Floor it! Lose him!" DW said.

"I THINK I CAN TALK TO THE DRAGON!" Stego screamed.

"What? Stop the plane, Launchpad. Let's hear him out." said DW, reluctantly.

'What this about you being able to talk to a dragon and what good would that do, anyway?" DW asked Stego impatiently.

"I'm a dinosaur. It's a dragon. I think I can talk to it. You want it to go back to where ever it came from, right? Well, I can TELL it that. I can ask it what it wants, what it would take to make it go away. That should help." Stego said.

"He's got a point there, DW." Launchpad said.

"Oh, all right. Get aboard. I hope I don't regret this!" DW said.

So Stego boarded the Thunderquack and they flew on straight to the Money Bin. Not only was Gizmoduck there on duty- but also Duckblur was with him. (10)

"Hi, gang. This here's Duckblur. She's helped me out before. OK if she joins in on the "fun"?" Giz asked.

"Gee, she's cute. At least what I can see with the mask and all. If I wasn't in love with Gandra Dee..." thought Gizmoduck, unaware Duckblur IS Gandra Dee.

"I know I'm new at the hero business. But I also know if this IS a REAL dragon, you're liable to need all the help you can get." Duckblur said

"Gosh, this Gizmoduck fellow is nice. If it wasn't for Fenton...In fact, he reminds me of Fenton. Nah, my conscience is just bugging me for being attracted to someone beside Fenton." Duckblur thought, unaware Gizmoduck IS Fenton. (11)

Soon after the Justice Ducks arrived at the Money Bin, did TWO dragons appear! A green one dug it's way out of the ground, right in front of the Money Bin and a blue one flew down and landed near the green one.

"TWO dragons?" DW asked.

"No! One's a machine! The Green one! I think the blue one the real thing!" Launchpad said.

"How can you tell?" DW asked.

"I know machines! The green one smells of gasoline, it moves stiffly...it's a machine! The blue one smells like an animal and moves smoothly, it's alive!" Launchpad said.

"He's right, Mr. Darkwing! At least about the blue one- it's some sort of big lizard, like a dragon, all right." Stego said.

The blue dragon growled and hissed and snarled.

"She says she's disappointed it's not another dragon!" Stego translated.

"SHE?" demanded Launchpad.

"Yes. It's a lady dragon. I can tell." Stego said.

"Can she understand you? Can you find out what she wants- why she is here?" asked DW.

Stego hissed and snarled to the lady blue dragon, who hissed and snarled right back.

"She says when dragons want to...marry the male collects a treasure until it's big enough to attract a female dragon. She heard of a dragon digging around here and sensed a great treasure stored here. She came expecting to met a Mr. dragon and is annoyed by it being a fake!" Stego said.

"Hey, Gizmoduck! You and your friends don't stand a chance against OUR mechanical dragon. YOUR mechanical dragon don't scare us, neither. My brother, Megabyte, built this thing just to defeat you! We wasn't expecting another fake dragon, but bring it on!" Big Time's voice said, from inside the fake green dragon.

"IT'S A REAL DRAGON!" warned Gizmoduck.

"Yeah, RIGHT! Tell that to the Marines!" said Big Time, who somehow did not believe Giz.

The female blue dragon, being extremely ticked off by the fake, attacked it. The Justice Ducks rushed to help her.

Launchpad, meanwhile did his job: he helped Mr. McD's security guards get innocent "people" who wanted to WATCH out of the way before they got killed.

Launchpad then got into the Thunderquack and flew to warn the cops to block off access to the Money Bin and helped the cops get idiots out of the way.

Back at the Mansion, the Justice Ducks were helping lady blue dragon fight fake green dragon. At first, they thought they were going to have to rescue stupid Beagles inside fake...but it was a TOUGH fake. It took all lady dragon could dish out and it fought dirty.

DW aimed his gas gun at the fake dragon's face.

"Eat gas, Evil Doer!" DW said.

But the fake dragon huffed and puffed and blew the gas right back in DW's face.

DW coughed and said: " Hey! There are anti-smoking laws, I'll have you know!"

("IN" joke: the music of "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf" is playing in the background while this happens)

Duckblur, as soon as ladyblue was NOT in the way, used her power to freeze Big Time's fake dragon, which was a mistake. It toppled over and would of crushed Duckblur if Gizmoduck had not rescued her.

In doing so, Duckblur got her first close, clear look at Gizmoduck's face. She almost gasped.

"FENTON?" she thought and then thought :"I'm going to get him for this."

She was annoyed at him for treating her like a child and "protecting" her from the Truth.

As soon as Duckblur lost concentration, the fake dragon unfroze in Time and got back up again. Duckblur wasn't too mad, after all, Giz had saved her life. So she decided to think about it and say nothing.

"I can't freeze it in Time, it isn't balanced right and falls over when stock-still." Duckblur said.

Giz used his gadgets, but the fake dragon was bullet and laser proof. It was stronger than he was, stronger than him and ladyblue.

Neptunia joined in, but she doesn't have armor and her scales are not as tough as ladyblue dragon's. If she was not so quick and slippery, she would of been badly hurt. As is, sooner or later, she'd get tired... they had to break off the attack.

Morgana used her Magic, but nothing she conjured up could hurt Big Time's fake dragon. Even a small (one cloud) thunderstorm did no good, neither rain nor lightning harmed it.

Big Time lost patience. He had hoped to be able to tunnel under and into the Money Bin and not have to deal with Gizmoduck at all. But the Beagle Boys have tried that before. (12) And Mr. McDuck has rigged the area beneath the Money Bin with all sorts of "lovely" traps and barriers, which forced Big Time's fake green dragon to surface right in front of the Money Bin.

So...he decided to quit playing potsy and just "scoop" whoever was driving what he thought was a mechanical dragon out of it. You can imagine his shock when the blue dragon BLED. Big Time TRIED to lie to himself, to convince himself it was motor oil or transmission fluid- but blood is rather unmistakable.

Big Time had hurt lady blue dragon pretty badly. Seeing her bleed when he thought her mechanical was bad enough. Having Stego attack him mercilessly was worse. But that exactly what Stego did: he tried to rip the green dragon's head off, only the fact it was a machine prevented him from succeeding.

"What got into Stego? I've never seen him like this before." DW asked, confused at seeing stupid old Stego act so angry.

"He's never been with something so close to a FEMALE dinosaur before." Morgana said, who thought she guessed what was going on here.

"Get this idiot off of me!" screamed Big Time, who was scared.

Not only was he begining to suspect that Gizmoduck had told the Truth and it WAS a REAL dragon, but Stego wigging out...it's very scary when somebody you consider laughable at turns out to be VERY dangerous.

Stego soon had the fake dragon down, with his full weight on the fake so it could not rise. I think he had forgotten it was a fake and NOT a rival male.

"I surrender! I give up! Take me to jail! Just GET HIM OFF OF ME!! screamed Big Time, scared silly.

This apparently snapped Stego out of it. He backed off.

"Enough, Stego. He won't give us any more trouble, will you, Big Time?" Gizmoduck asked, as Big Time climbed out from inside the fake dragon.

"Heck, no. Take me to a nice, safe jail cell- far away from HIM!" said Big Time indicting Stego.

"Where are your brothers?" asked Giz as he pulled a pair of handcuffs out of someplace and cuffed Big Time.

"Probably far away by now. They must of scrammed when they saw I was losing. I was the only one small enough to operate that thing." Big Time replied.

Giz checked the area while the others guarded Big Time. Seeing the area was free of Beagles, Giz radioed Launchpad at the Thunderquack and gave him the "all's clear, let the cops back in first."

The cops came in, arrested Big Time and took away the fake dragon. Then they let the public back in the area.

Launchpad came back.

"I still don't know what got into Stego!" DW said.

"I do. Look for yourself." said Morgana, pointing to ladyblue looking adoringly down at Stego, who, was looking equally smitten up at her.

"They're in love!" DW said, astonished.

Then the blue lady dragon started to shrink in size till she was a little shorter than Stego.

"How?" asked DW.

"Oh, all dragons can be any size they want to be. That's how come they can hide from humans: by shrinking to tiny size. She was just big before to impress a potential...husband." Stego said.

"Well, I think I can ride her." said Neptunia and she mounted ladyblue and rode her thru the air like she was a (sea) horse. "And she can become big enough for ALL of us to ride her! (13) Why don't we let her join the Justice Ducks, even if she's no more a duck than I am?"

"Actually, her name is Duckweena." said Stego.(14)

The Justice Ducks were full of plans to make a comeback. The Stegos (Mr. and Mrs.) ended up living in a cave under the Saint Canard Bridge, where they had a "panic button" DW could press if he needed them.

Launchpad, you can join the Justice Ducks..." DW began

"Thanks, but no thanks, DW. I enjoyed working with you. It was fun. I was trying being on a superhero for size and I don't fit. I'm a pilot, not a superhero." Launchpad said

"Working with you helped me to see that. A hero, yes- but I think I'll stick to working for Mr. McD. It's more my kind of thing. And with Duckweena the Real Dragoness to ride on, you don't really need me or the Thunderquack any more.

I was going to offer to teach one of you to fly a plane and sell you the Thunderquack...but my Dad's been bugging me to fly the Thunderquack in his Air Shows...more often ever since he found out what I did last summer. " (15)

DW and Launchpad shook hands goodbye. DW went home to St. Canard.

Launchpad came home to me. Launchpad told me all about it. "You should of seen the Thunderquack! I was taking off and landing in places so small- my Dad's going to bust with pride!" Launchpad said.

"He'll have to wait his turn." I said.

**The End.

* * *

**In this story, I did what I wish (at most) Disney had done in DW: use Launchpad to introduce DW, then have Launchpad go back home to Duckberg and to working for Mr. McDuck.

(1) A reference to "The Golden Fleecing" Not one of my favorite Ducktales episodes.  
(2) Why didn't I go along? Me? Fight a dragon? Ha, ha, ha, ha!

(3) There's a radio in the Gizmoduck suit someplace. Mr. McDuck said so in "The Land of Tralala", even if Bright Boy- er- Fenton forgot to unpack his Gizmoduck suit.  
And I still think Launchpad was TRYING to hint to Fenton that "I KNOW you're Gizmoduck" when he, Launchpad asked Fenton what was in that HUGE and heavy crate Fenton insisted on carrying into the plane himself. But the Triplets were nearby ..so Launchpad couldn't hint too loudly.

(4) My sentiments exactly.  
(5) See above.  
(6)Thank God.  
(7) "Just us Justice Ducks"  
(8)Morgana gives my Launchpad the willies. She keeps reminding him of Magica De Spell. I don't think Morgana a lost cause, but I don't blame Launchpad for not trusting her.

(9) Dolphins breathe air. They can hold their breath a LOT longer than we can, but not forever.

(10) See my story "It's a Duckblur" if you don't know who she is.

(11) See how complicated secret IDs can get?

(12) In Disney's Ducktales #15. Or "The Gold Odyssey".

(13) I certainly HOPE the Nice People at Xialon Showdown can't sue me for this, Heroes flying around on a dragon is a general idea, this is a female dragon who is a member of the Justice Ducks and fights with them. She can become ANY size.

Dojo's male and usually does not fight and is not a member of the team. He has two sizes: big and small.

Anne McCaffrey had heroes on dragons, as did L. Frank Baum in " Tik Tok of Oz".

You can have Launchpad teach one of them to fly- even DW- and sell the Thunderquack instead, if you like.

(14) Duckweena has a bill like a duck's, the way some dinosaurs do.

(15) It turns out that Ripcord's helped out SHUSH from time to time, especially back in his younger days. Figures. The apple did NOT fall far from that tree.


End file.
